Live Skull were from NY and played noise rock similar to Sonic Youth. Some consider them to be a Sonic Youth copy but I think the band has a style of their own.
Live Skull formed in 1983 and this 12" is their very first release. The band went on to record another 2 great albums on Homestead: 'Bringing Home The Bait' and 'Cloud One'. After a live album, Thalia Zedek from Uzi joined the band and later, she and Marnie Greenholz left the band and Sonda Andersson of Rat At Rat R took over the vocals. Never heard the later Live Skull.
More on Live Skull here and here.
Live Skull 12" (Massive Records-Fat 1-1984)
1. Mr. Evil
2. I Was Wrong
3. Live Walk
4. Boil
5. Tourist Trap
6. Age Of Oil & Wax
Live Skull
21 comments:
Ta! As an old Sonic Youth addict this comes easy: Like it already!
Live Skull were a favorite of mine back in the late 80s. I thought I had their entire catalog (mostly on vinyl), but missed this one along the way. Thanks for posting.
Brilliant! I am a huge fan of the Thalia Zedek-era Live Skull and have always wondered what the earlier stuff sounded like. Please post more if you have it (I would happily share the Zedek material, it's wonderful).
Thanks so much!
-SER
Wonderful post; I had the (mis)fortune to see the Zedek fronted band in Chicago right before they split up. I was blown away by the band and her powerful vocal and stage presence, but could tell that things were amiss. Would love to see more of their out of print material posted
Thanks for the comments.
I do have the albums mentioned in the post and it seems these are not reissued. Shall post them some time later.
Great, I like Positraction and Snuff records.This one you posted
is superb too.
Karlos
LONG LIVE LIVE SKULL LONG LIVE LIVE SKULL LONG LIVE LIVE SKULL
Thanks alot, (friend who understands these music websites linked me to this)... i am a big longtime fan of the ol' LS, wanted to post their stuff myself but i am a techno. retard so far, very pleased to see the first ep here (like it all but particularly LOVE #5 "Tourist Trap", a singular gem who's spare whiplash drum beat and weepy tortured guitar chord phrasings just kill me.... if you really want to 'get' Live SKull folks, listen to it all (drink and/or herb may help, along w/ multiple listens util yr jaw drops and it clicks), but listen loudly to their first two 'classic members' albums, "Bringing Home THe Bait" and the follow up, "Cloud One".... If i had to choose just one LS album, tonight it is "Cloud One", an album that killed all other indie rock rivals of it's year ... by the way Live SKull sound abslutely NOTHING like Sonic Youth and these comparisons are amusing and lazy (they were merely contemporaries who played the same time-space nyc, but totally diff. in tuning, tone, style, and compostion). LONG LIVE LIVE SKULL LONG LIVE LIVE SKULL LONG LIVE LIVE SKULL
P.S. please do the planet a favor and post all their ep's and albums-- in order! (don't forget that Cloud One ... turn it UP people !!!)
another great post, many thanks. thalia took on singing duties last year when the classic line-up of the gun club reformed to play a show at the preview of the gun club movie.
Ah yes, Live Skull, great, great, great band...a personal favorite. But here's a challenge from the same scene...Rat At Rat R. I've been looking for years and not found a single note.
Dion, check the RAT AT RAT R Myspace page. Victor and Dave keep it pretty well current and have been posting downloadable tunes off of R&R Is Dead (low quality mp3 - but better than nothing) and Sound League. Love this LIVE SKULL record!!!
Got to correct your comment about Thalia Zedek being replaced by Sonda Anderson. They're both on Positraction and I think coincided until the end.
Sonda replaced Marnie Greenholz who played bass with the early line-up (and had also been Tom Payne's girlfriend). Perhaps that had something to do with her leaving. The early line up also featured James Lo on drums, I think he was more interested in dance rhythms than any opf Sonic Youth's drummers. According to Richard Edson's liner notes to the 1st Sonic Youth lp he (RE) had jammed with an earlier band that Live Skull came out of, again focusing on dance rhythms.
I really love Positraction and have the signed poster on my wall.
Stevo
Hey Stevo,
thanks for the correction. Just got the info from Trouserpress and wikipedia. It is somehow confusing. So thanks for putting it straight.
Glad to see fellow Live Skull fans still singing their praises. Discovered them in 1986 and saw them with the Thalia line-up in 1988. I have digitized most of my Live Skull vinyl including this one. Anyone have mp3s of Positraction kicking around that they would like to share? Post replies here.
Check the Xhol Desert blog for more Live Skull. Link in sidebar.
http://www.mediafire.com/?2gidixn4czv
Thanks anon! Replaced the dead link with yours.
Same old story: I loved Live Skull at one point, but things moved on & I naively sold all of their records (I had most of 'em - except this 12" oddly enough!) Now, of course, I totally regret doing so, especially as they've NEVER shown up on CD (unless you know better?). I think my fav release of theirs was the Pusherman EP which is already out there on another blog - would be great if you could post Cloud One or Dusted though, I'd especially like to hear the latter again (I prefer the Marnie era to the later stuff)... IBx
P.S. Rat At Rat R weren't that great tbh!
IBx, don't have Dusted but I already ripped the Cloud One LP. Also have Bringing Home The Bait.
Hey, just found Dusted & some later Skull stuff over at: youngmosstongue.blogspot.com. Between the two of you you've posted everything 'cept the Don't Get Any On You live LP (non-essential) & the final Thalia stuff, though apparently they did a Peel session too? Any clues? IBx
This is a trip down the twisted memory lane....I followed the Sawns, Sonic Youth & Butthole Surfers around on their first UK tours (luckily England is a small country so you can easily catch every tour date in the early/mid eighties so I was completely primed when Live Skull hit our shores for their first tour.
It was the lazy hack corporate music media whores who labelled them as some kinda Sonic Youth copyists and I believe they really suffered with that tag and the irony is (as a couple of posts have already pointed out) is the fact that on record and live, they sounded nothing like Sonic Youth and had their own particular 'sound' which I loved.
I got rid of all my pre-acid house vinyl back in the early nineties and gods do I regret it now as it would cost tens of thousands of pounds to replace so the rise of the music blogs like yours has been particularly rewarding and I salute those people who had the good sense to hang onto their records!
Its hugely ironic that by now at the age of 40 I should be finding todays groups sonically too avant-garde and just basically "not get them" and yet while that is true, its not because its too extreme or radical, its because its not radical enough!
When I listen to the early material of bands like the Buttholes or Swans, it still blows 99% of todays avant-electronic-postrawk artists away and thats not nostalgia, just sadly a simple fact/
Anyway, sorry for rambling and thanks so much for the Live Skull 12 Inch..I wonder who has my copy now!?
New link. Realize that this one has been reissued so try to get a copy and support people who take the effort to do this.
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